Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted significant interest for a wide variety of potential applications due to their strength, flexibility, and high electrical and thermal conductivities. The electrical properties of a polymer matrix have been enhanced by using shear mixing to introduce a very low loading of CNTs. However, the strong van der Waals interactions between CNTs make it difficult to achieve high CNT loadings, good dispersion, or alignment within polymer matrices. Therefore, the preparation of structured CNT nanocomposites with desirable electrical, thermal, and strength properties remains challenging.
Electrospinning is a method of extruding fibers at high speed from a solution using electrostatic charging and has been used to prepare various types of hybrid nanofibers by incorporating nanomaterials into polymer solutions. It has been demonstrated that fibers can still be extracted from materials that normally cannot be electrospun through co-electrospinning, using a double needle spinneret.